Iron Bowl wins carry less weight in hoops

Auburn will try to defeat Alabama for the fourth straight time, which would match the Tigers' longest winning streak in the series since 1998-99 to 1999-2000. If the Tigers sweep Alabama this season, it would be Auburn's best winning streak in the series since 1967-68 to 1970-71. (Hal Yeager / The Birmingham News)This column appeared Wednesday, Jan. 27, in The Birmingham News.

In case you haven't heard, Ala­bama and Auburn play a bas­ketball game Saturday. This just in: Football recruiting rankings won't determine the outcome.

With a victory Saturday, Auburn would have its longest winning streak (four) over Alabama since 1998-99 to 1999-2000. That would match the Tigers' longest success in the series since winning seven in a row over the Crimson Tide from 1967-68 to 1970-71.

If only Iron Bowl basketball wins could save coaching jobs like Iron Bowl football wins.

Instead, Jeff Lebo's three-game winning streak over the Crimson Tide occurs during one of the low­est periods in decades for Ala­bama and Auburn simulta­neously. Even if he ended this season with five straight wins over the Tide, that might not be enough for Lebo to keep his job.

At this rate, Alabama and Au­burn will both miss the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season. That hasn't hap­pened since they each stayed home five straight seasons, from 1977 to 1981, back when there were 32, 40 or 48 teams in the NCAA Tournament, not 65 as there are today.

Anthony Grant gets a pass in his first year coaching Alabama. The Crimson Tide is more competitive than in recent seasons under Mark Gottfried, and few fans doubt Grant was the right hire.

Lebo faces a much more diffi­cult problem. Less than a year away from opening a $92.5 mil­lion, 9,600-seat arena, Auburn av­erages 5,126 fans in reported at­tendance per game. That's a generous number because media accounts have estimated far fewer fans in Auburn this season.

Auburn is staring at its sixth consecutive season with a re­ported average crowd of fewer than 6,000 fans. That has never happened during Auburn's 42-year stay at Beard-Eaves-Me­morial

Coliseum. Only winning brings out bas­ketball fans in this state. Winning in this state means regular ap­pearances in the NCAA Tourna­ment.

The last time Alabama or Au­burn played in the tournament, Barack Obama was completing his first year in the U.S. Senate.

Ole Miss and South Carolina are the only other SEC teams that haven't played in the NCAA Tour­nament since 2006. The Rebels are a good bet to make it this year, likely leaving the Crimson Tide, Tigers and Gamecocks stuck in the SEC's version of the Bermuda Triangle.

Two other states have two bas­ketball programs in the SEC. The last time Tennessee and Vander­bilt both missed the NCAA Tour­nament for at least four straight seasons was 1984 to '87. For Ole Miss and Mississippi State, you have to go back to 1982 to '90 for the last time both were absent that long.

Until Alabama and Auburn give in-state recruits a reason to stay home, both programs will con­tinue to have their share of strug­gles. Top players who have left the state include Stanley Robinson (Connecticut), DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky), Eric Bledsoe (Ken­tucky), Christian Watford (Indi­ana), Varez Ward (Texas), Xavier Gibson (Florida State), Louis Dale (Cornell), and Ronald Nored (But­ler).

Alabama and Auburn have had two players drafted by the NBA in the past six years, compared to six selected in the previous five years. Both teams have gone eight straight drafts without producing a first-round pick, dating to Ger­ald Wallace in 2001. That's the longest first-round drought for both programs since the mid-1970s.

There will, of course, still be a basketball game Saturday on The Plain between Alabama and Au­burn. It will be meaningful in its own way. But the value of a win­ning streak in this series can't get much lower.